If disability not due to service, armymen cannot claim benefit

NEW DELHI: An armyman is not entitled to any "disability pension" benefit if the said condition is not attributable to the military service rendered, the Supreme Court has said.

Such a benefit can be claimed by an armyman only if the disability was aggravated while rendering the military service or was attributable to the service rendered, a bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and J M Panchal ruled.

The apex court passed the ruling while upholding the appeal filed by the Union Government challenging the orders passed by the Rajasthan High Court for granting "disability pension" to Surinder Singh Rathore, who worked as a Signalman in the Army and was discharged from service due to failing vision.

Earlier, a single-judge bench and a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court had ordered the government to pay "disability pension" to Rathore after the medical board constituted by the Defence Ministry had rejected his plea.

In May 1993, Rathore was released from the service by Army authorities after it was detected that he was suffering from "Maculapathy (RT) Eye" -- a condition in which a person's vision starts diminishing. His disability was assessed at 30 per cent.

He was released from service on the basis of the report submitted by the "Release Medical Board" which however opined that the disability was "neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service."